Foreign tourists in Beijing spent a record US$1,033 each last year, involving a total of US$4 billion, local authorities said on Thursday.

 

The Chinese capital received 3.9 million foreign tourists last year, 7.5 percent more than last year, who spent a total of four billion dollars, according to Fang Zehua, a spokesman of the municipal tourism administration.

 

"The boom can be attributed to our promotion of Beijing in major source countries," he said.

 

Tourists from Japan, the United States and the Republic of Korea accounted for about 40 percent of the total number.

 

Overseas arrivals from Russia, Sweden and Australia also saw a rapid increase, Fang said.

 

Some 132 million Chinese visitors from other parts of the country came to the capital and spent 148.3 billion yuan (US$19.1 billion), 14 percent higher than in 2005, he added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2007)